Dear Yeshua,
This Advent, I thank you for a particular friend in church.
In November 2024, the pastoral staff of the La Sierra University Church chose “Table Talk” for its brief sermon series. Six days before Thanksgiving, Carmencita and I had the pleasure of chatting briefly with a church member at the produce section of La Sierra’s Stater Bros. No doubt, he was shopping for groceries in preparation for the coming feast day. No, he did not invite us to his dinner table later that week, but our table with him was more memorable than a literal one.
In September 1959, my older brother and I had just arrived at Pacific Union College (PUC). We were in our mid-teens, and we liked to play basketball. There we were, two international soon-to-be college students in a strange campus with no friends. We had never played on a hardwood court. We were used to dirt; if fortunate, we played on cement or asphalt courts. We found out that PUC’s gym had a hardwood floor. So, one evening we ventured to shoot baskets in the gym.
We must have looked strange: two guys by ourselves who looked more like grade school kids than college students, brown-skinned, short and thin, waiting to play. From a handful of students under the opposite basket, one approached us. With a wide grin on his face, he extended his hand to welcome us, as he said his name. His welcome table was the basketball court. We continued playing with each other and other students. After he left PUC, I did not expect to see him ever again.
After my internal medicine residency and fellowship training in July 1977, we chose to settle at La Sierra, primarily because of its Adventist schools from elementary to college. Shortly after settling in our new house and transferring church membership to what was then the La Sierra Collegiate Church, there was a knock on our door. A gentleman with a wide grin on his face extended his hand to welcome us, as he said his name. His welcome table was the church.
We have been members of what is now the La Sierra University Church for forty-seven years under six different senior/lead pastors. We have seen changes in pastoral staff from all men, all Caucasian, to both genders from diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds. We have seen changes in church attire from business suits to jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. We have seen changes in music from piano and organ to guitars, drums, and the electronic keyboard. We have seen changes from a robed choir under the baton of a director to a band led by a keyboardist, guitarist, or soloist. We have seen changes in songs from those found in the hymnal to praise songs. We have seen changes from baptismal gowns to black t-shirts imprinted with the La Sierra University Church logo and motto. We have seen offerings collected in a plate or bag by deacons to electronic Adventist Giving.
But through all those changes, Jim Manning has remained constant in welcoming everyone to his table, at the La Sierra University Church.
Thank you for Jim Manning.
Help us to continue feasting on your word together and welcoming all to your table.
Honesto and Carmencita Pascual have been married for almost 56 years.